Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City
ALL Kampala hotels are booked up, thanks to the African Union Summit which started yesterday. The boom is comparable to the Commonwealth Heads of State Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in 2007, according to a survey.
Some guests had to change hotels from the city outskirts for security reasons. Suicide bombers last Sunday killed at least 76 people watching the final match of the World Cup in two venues in Kampala.
Despite this, the Uganda Hotel Owners Association said the occupancy levels are very high.
“Most of the rooms are busy in the vicinity of Kampala and a few hotels in Entebbe and Jinja,” said Ismail Sekandi, the executive director of the association.
The 15th ordinary session of the assembly is expected to attract a big number of leaders from Africa and the Caribbeans. Some guests came from as far as Trinidad and Tobago.
Kutesa (centre) chatting with the African Union chairman, Jean Ping, and official Isaac Munlo at the conference in Munyonyo yesterday
Joyce Wangui, the Kampala Serena Hotel sales manager, said 70% of the bookings had gone to the summit, and the rest to corporate clients. “We are fully-booked for the next 10 days, Wangui said.
She said Serena has 152 rooms, 12 of them suites. Of these, 108 rooms cost $240 a night (about sh550,000) each.
The hotel could make about sh1b from all the rooms, meals and other services.
A staff member at the Kampala Sheraton Hotel said the hotel is also fully-booked. “We are sold out fully,” the source said.
During CHOGM, about 5,000 guests descended on Uganda. While the occupancy for the AU summit is slightly lower, it has kept the country’s quickly rising reputation as a conferencing destination alive.
Reports also indicate that during government budgeting processes for the AU summit, about 2,000 guests were expected.
A single average hotel room goes for $80 and an executive one goes for about $250 in a five-star hotel. Taking an average of $170 per room for a single day, hotels hosting about 1,000 guests could rake in about sh580m for just bed and breakfast.
There are about 50 hotels within Kampala and the neighbouring Entebbe and Jinja towns.
Sekandi disclosed that the Government had gone out of its way to provide state security for all the hotels that are hosting guests for the summit.
“We have been emphasising safety even before the events that happened recently. This will be tested by the end of this summit whether we have done it,” said Sekandi.
Sekandi also runs Rwizi Arch Hotel, Mbarara, which has also benefited from the summit.
But some hotels in Kampala missed out on the summit boom because of poor facilities.
“People became desperate but it is the product that you put in the market,” said
ENDS